Tornado & Friends Mainline Adventures
by DanBarr5
Summary: Join Tornado and her friends for adventures and tales out on the mainlines of Great Britain. These episodes may feature Thomas references. Please review my episodes. Episode 11 now up!
1. Tornado and The Tank Engine

_**Tornado and Friends Main Line Adventures**_

**Tonight - There's a tank engine on the main line, Kolhapur looks cross and Tornado tackles the Lickey Incline.**

Episode 1: Tornado and The Tank Engine

No. 60163 _'Tornado'_ is an LNER Peppercorn A1 Class steam locomotive, who works on the mainlines across Great Britain. She's a cheeky young engine who's very proud of her BR express blue paint, and is the first steam engine to be built by British Railways since BR Standard Class 9F no. 92220 _'Evening Star'_ back in 1960. She got her name after the RAF combat aircraft the _'Panavia Tornado'_, and has been working the mainline happily and successfully since completion in 2008, and certification in 2009. Tornado has lots of friends out on the mainline, but one autumn weekend, things changed dramatically.

It was 27th October, and Tornado was visiting Tyseley Locomotive Works for an open day. Also in attendance were GWR 4073 Castle Class no. 5043 _'Earl Of Mount Edgcumbe'_ and his sister no.5029 _'Nunney Castle'_, GWR 4900 Hall Class no.4965 _'Rood Ashton Hall'_ and his sister no.4936 _'Kinlet Hall'_ and GWR 5700 Class pannier tanks no.9600 and his brother no.7752, who was in late 60's lined LT livery and carries the number L94. Now, these tank engines were never originally given names, but because these two were mainline certified, **(but mainly for the sake of this episode)**, they were given their own names. 9600 was given the name _'Swindon'_, after where most of the class was built **(Swindon Works)**, while L94 was given the name _'Pannier'_, after the type of locos they were **(but mostly because I couldn't think of any appropriate names for them!)**. It was 11am, and all the engines were gathered round the turntable with enthusiasts taking pictures of them. However, Tornado wasn't happy. She glared at Swindon and Pannier.

"I can't understand how two slow weak little tank engines like you two can possibly be mainline certified!", she complained, "How can you two be of any use to the fleet?!" Swindon and Pannier frowned hurtfully. The others heard Tornado and they weren't pleased.

"Hey back off Tornado!", said Earl of Mount Edgcumbe angrily.

"Yeah leave them alone!", agreed Nunney Castle.

"What they lack in size…", began Rood Ashton Hall.

"…They make up for in power!", finished Kinlet Hall.

"They do have their uses Tornado.", said a cool, calm, feminine and collected voice. The engines looked over and saw LMS Jubilee Class no.(4)5593 _'Kolhapur'_ parked right next to them. They all stared at her. At last, after a long awkward silence, Pannier spoke up.

"Kolhapur how long have you been there?", he asked.

"What?!", Kolhapur exclaimed, "How have you not noticed me resting here waiting for my overhaul for the past few years?!"

It's funny isn't it?", Tornado smirked cheekily, " I'm the only A1 in existence, and there's four of you Jubilees Kolhapur, and yet I'm more useful than any of you four combined."

That's enough youngster.", huffed Kolhapur crossly, "My sister Galatea's being just as useful as you out on the mainline. Now, getting back on topic Tornado, Swindon and Pannier may very well be tank engines, but whether it's on the mainline or preserved railways, these engines will always be useful, whether they're hauling coaches or trucks, shunting, or being a banker. As the Halls said, what they lack in size, they make up for in power."

"Besides Tornado," said Pannier, "Swindon's doing some shunting work at Bescot Yards tomorrow."

"Yeah, and that way Tornado," said Swindon confidently, "I can prove to you that we are really useful engines no matter what we do, or where we go." Tornado wheeshed steam bitterly, then her angry face quickly turned into a smug grin.

"And while you're failing to do that," she said smugly, "I'll be hauling 'The Britannia Banker' without any assistance what so ever."

"Can I just point out, that the reason you're hauling the train's because Britannia has broken down and her brother Oliver Cromwell's unavailable." said Rood Ashton Hall.

"You may struggle you know Tornado," said Nunney Castle, "It may be sunny now but there's a storm expected tonight, and with 'The Britannia Banker' you may find things rough going, especially on the Lickey Incline."

"So on that basis," Kinlet Hall smirked, "You may need, as the name goes, a _banker_ to help you."

"Me?! Need a banker?!", exclaimed Tornado bitterly, "I don't need any banker, I'll haul the train up the inline myself! I'll show you!" The other engines just laughed.

Later that afternoon, the engines were being kept busy…well except Kolhapur as she was waiting for overhaul, but the others had things to do. Nunney Castle, Rood Ashton Hall, Kinlet Hall and Pannier were still resting round the turntable waiting for their turn to go on it. Earl Of Mount Edgcumbe was on it at the moment being rotated the full 360 so enthusiasts can get some good snapshots of him. Meanwhile, Tornado was hauling other enthusiasts up and down the line around the works. She was still indignant over the fact that the others laughed at her saying she needed help on 'The Britannia Banker' tomorrow. As for Swindon, well he'd gone into the works shed. LMS Princess Royal Class no.(4)6201 _'Princess Elizabeth'_ , or Lizzie as she'd liked to be known, was already inside undergoing overhaul, after the expiry of her boiler ticket. At this point in the overhaul, her boiler was still attached, so she was still able to talk to other engines, and that's exactly what Swindon wanted her to do. Miserably, he told the Princess about what Tornado had said.

"I probably should've known Tornado would be like this when she first came across you on the mainline." said Lizzie. "But you do have your uses Swindon."

"I know," said Swindon wistfully, "Kolhapur pointed some out, but I just hope I can prove to Tornado that I can be useful on the mainline."

"Oh I'm sure you will." said Lizzie comfortably, "Remember, you once banked me on the very same train up the very same incline." Swindon smiled weakly, but he still wasn't so sure, his confidence was fizzling out.

That night, Nunney Castle was right about the storm, it forced itself viciously down onto the engines, who had to sleep outside as there was no space for them to join Lizzie inside the shed because of other workings. Even though they were getting wet, their drivers had kept the firebox burning, so they were nice and warm, and didn't seem to mind the wet whether, even Kolhapur dodn't mind despite her firebox not starting as her overhal was overdue. However, the storm, as predicted, was blowing leaves onto the track, especially on the Lickey Incline. The next morning, the storm had died down and no major damage was done around town, but the clouds hovered in front of the sky, but sunny spells were forecast, however the Lickey Incline was covered in red, orange, yellow and brown leaves. Despite this, Tornado and Swindon set off out of Tyseley and onwards to their respective jobs. Tornado set off to collect her coaches for 'The Britannia Banker', while Swindon went on his way towards Bescot Yard for his shunting duties. A few hours later, Swindon arrived at the yard and saw the trucks waiting to be shunted.

"Right, time to show Tornado that I can be a really useful engine on the mainline." he said feeling his confidence rising inside him again. And with that, he set off to work. He spent the morning and afternoon shunting the trucks to where they were needed. Some trucks were shunted into long lines for goods trains and the diesels hauling them were very impressed with the hard work Swindon was putting in. Swindon was enjoying himself, it was fun biffing and bashing the trucks to where they were needed. He started wondering if Tornado was enjoying herself. And, speaking of the devil, We join Tornado as she was making her merry way along the mainline with 'The Britannia Banker', consisting of 10 filled to the brim and very heavy coaches swaying along the track right behind her. Earlier, Tornado got the train off to a slippy start, but got it going with no major issues, and now the train was cruising along the line. At this point in the journey, the Lickey Incline was in the distance. Her driver and fireman were using the sanding gear to prevent her wheels from slipping of the wet rails. Suddenly, as the incline fast approached, there was trouble.

"Looks like you'll need to go to the works after this trip Tornado," said the fireman, "Your sanding gear has failed."

"Oh dear," replied the driver worriedly, "How are we gonna get up that leaf-stained incline without any sand for Tornado to grip the rails?"

"And of course, there's 10 fully packed and very heavy coaches right behind us.", added the fireman. Tornado was feeling unfazed by the worrying news.

"Uh hello! You two seem to be forgetting the other reason as to why I'm called Tornado!", she said turning upbeat, "It's because I'm fast and can do the damage! I don't need any sand, I'll be able to get up that incline, no trouble at all."

"I suppose we could give it a try.", said the fireman nervously.

"OK, full steam ahead Tornado!" called the driver positively as he opened Tornados regulator all the way in the knowledge that Tornado was gonna need all the power she could muster to get up that slippery incline.

"Right, time to show Swindon that I don't need a banker to get up this slope no matter what state it's in!", said a determined Tornado. She charged at the incline at fast as she could.

"I'll do it, I'll do it!", she puffed. Things went well at first, but after reaching about half way, Tornado started to slow down. The fireman was shovelling coal into the firebox furiously in an attempt to keep the train going. But it wasn't working. As Tornado pace continued to reduce, steam was shooting all over the place, it fired from the pistons, while black smoke bellowed from her funnel. However, despite all her efforts, Tornado continued to go slower and slower, until she was eventually climbing at a snails pace.

"I must do it, I must do it!", she panted, but she had finally come to a stop with her wheels slipping on the leaves. She couldn't pull the train at all now. Suddenly, the train started to slide back down the incline.

"Help, Help!", Tornado screamed. Her wheels were turning forward, but the combination of the heavy coaches, the leaves and the broken sanding gear meaning no grip was pulling her backwards. The whole train started slipping down the incline. Realising that they weren't going any further without help, the driver shut off steam and put on the brakes and carefully, he stopped the train at the bottom of the incline. After catching their breath, the driver and fireman made a decision.

"I'll go and get help.", said the driver and off he went down the line.

"Never mind Tornado", said the fireman, "You tried." Tornado said nothing, she was very red-faced with both tiredness and embarrassment. Back with Swindon, he had just finished his shunting work, when a workman came up to him urgently.

"You need to help Tornado, she's stuck on the incline.", the workman said.

"I guess she does need a banker after all.", laughed Swindon as he set off to the rescue. When he arrived at the incline, he came up to the red-faced Tornado.

"Looks like the Lickey Incline claims another victim.", Swindon joked. Tornado remained silent. "Ah well, we live and learn. Never mind young Tornado, I'm going to push from behind." And with that, Swindon made his way to the back of the train. He was buffered up instead of coupled up, that way Tornado would then be able to run on without stopping when they reached the top of the incline. With a whistle signalling he was ready, Swindon pushed and Tornado pulled. Clouds of smoke and steam towered from the snorting engines.

"We can do it.", puffed Tornado.

"We will do it.", replied Swindon. At last, after much huffing and puffing, they reached the top of the incline. Tornado whistled thank you and Swindon whistled you're welcome in return as he watched Tornado race into the distance. Thanks to Swindon, Tornado met the scheduled station arrival times on the timetable…just.

That evening, as the sun was setting behind the clouds, Tornado was on her way to Tyseley Locomotive Works to get her sanding gear fixed. As she puffed down a piece of open countryside, she found Swindon resting in a siding taking on water. She stopped next to him.

"Swindon, I'm sorry for making fun of you and Pannier. You have proven to me that you really are useful wherever you go. I now know not to judge a book by its cover", said Tornado apologetically.

"You're forgiven Tornado, but how can you say that when I'm not a book?", replied Swindon making Tornado giggle softly, "I guess Lizzie was right after all." Both engines laughed. Just then Tornado noticed something. A group of boy scouts were camping out in the open field next to Swindon. The scout leader came over to them.

"Sorry to disrupt you two", he said, "But do you think you can help me get my boy scouts to sleep?"

"Well, are they all fans of Thomas The Tank Engine?", asked Swindon.

"Yeah, why?", asked the scout leader.

"In that case, I think I know a way. Tell them to get in their sleeping bags, close their eyes and listen to me.", Swindon instructed. So the scout leader told his scouts to sleeping bags, and as soon as they did, and their eyes were closed, they were told to listen to Swindon.

"Alright kids", began Swindon, "I want you to picture the following place in your mind."

_(Swindon sings the TTTE Island Song)_

_Picture a land where the sky is so blue,_

_A story book land of wonder,_

_A magical island, just waiting for you,_

_Island of Sodor, will make your dreams come true._

_Imagine a place where the sun always smiles,_

_The valleys are green as can be,_

_The friends that you love are all waiting for you,_

_Island of Sodor, will make your dreams come true._

_Children, follow the dream,_

_To a land of make belief,_

_The Island of Sodor,_

_Magical land where dreams come true._

_(Swindon speaks normally)_

_Follow the road, that leads to your dream,_

_Over the hills and mountains,_

_Look to the skies, with stars in their eyes._

_(Swindon goes back to his singing voice)_

_Island of Sodor, will make your dreams come true._

_Children, follow the dream,_

_To a land of make belief,_

_The Island of Sodor,_

_Magical land where dreams come true._

_The Island of Sodor,_

_Magical land where dreams come true._

As Swindon finished singing, he, Tornado and the scout leader saw that the scouts had fallen happily asleep.

"Thank you.", said the scout leader quietly as he made his way to the sleeping bunch. Tornado was breath taken from what she just heard.

"That was amazing Swindon", she gasped, "I never knew you could sing."

"Well doing that was the only thing I could think of", Swindon replied, "Besides, personally speaking, I think my singing is rubbish."

"What're you talking about, you're an amazing singer.", said Tornado as Swindon smiled weakly in respense, "By the way, do you really think that this _'Island of Sodor'_ is out there somewhere?", she asked.

"Only in your dreams Tornado, only on your dreams." Swindon sighed happily. After a few moments of silence, Tornado spoke.

"Well I've got to go", she said.

"Ok, bye Tornado", replied Swindon, "Hope your sanding gear gets fixed." And with that, Tornado set off into the sunset. Tornado had learned not to judge an engine by its appearance, and she was happy to have made a new friend.

**Well, that's it, that's episode 1 done. Hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to send me criticism. If you have any episode ideas, then let me know, cause I feel it'll take a while for me to come up with a second episode. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for reading, goodnight!**


	2. Tangmeres Ghostly Trick

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - We hear a story within a story, Tangmere changes colour and Tornado gets a fright.**

Episode 2: Tangmeres Ghostly Trick

"_And every year on the date of the accident, it runs again, as a warning to others. Plunging into the gap, shrieking like a lost soul!"_

"Tangmere, what're you talking about?", asked Tornado. She, SR Battle of Britain Class No.34067 _'Tangmere' _and SR Merchant Navy Class No.35028 _'Clan Line' _were resting at King's Cross engine shed getting ready for their days work.

"The ghost train", replied Tangmere, "My driver saw it last night."

"Where?", asked Clan Line.

"He didn't say. Ooh, it makes my wheels wobble to think of it."

"Huh!", huffed Tornado, "You're just a silly old engine you know Tangmere.", she said smirking smugly, "I'm not scared." And with a blow of her chime whistle, Tornado puffed confidently away to work. Later that morning, Tangmere was alone in the shed. Her driver and fireman arrived just as she was ready to go to work.

"Tornado didn't believe in your ghost.", Tangmere said to her driver, who laughed in response.

"Neither do I.", he replied, "It was a pretend ghost on television." Tangmere was disappointed.

That evening, after Tangmere had finished her work, she was on her way back to King's Cross shed for a well earned rest. It was gonna be quite a journey to get there, but she didn't mind as she enjoyed long distance runs, besides, she liked running at night, the rails hummed beneath her wheels, and signal lights brightly shone as green as a gemstone. Further down the line was a level crossing, but this one was small and had no gates. It was next to a farm. The farmer of this farm was always careful when going over the crossing because he had to keep his ears open for approaching trains. Tonight though, he had a job to do that required him to cross the tracks. He was riding one of his horses who was attached to a cart of lime. The cart was old and weak. The wood it was made of wouldn't be used in any building projects anytime soon, but it was all the farmer had, so he was gonna have to be careful over the crossing. When he arrived at the crossing, he stopped and listened carefully…no sounds of engines. With this knowledge, he began to cross. He and the horse made it over safely. However, when the cart crossed the first piece of track, the wheels came loose and shattered. The cart crashed down, right in the middle of the track. Fortunately, the lime was unharmed. Without wishing to panic, the farmer knew he had to get help. He unattached the horse from the fallen cart, hoped onto the horses back and trotted off in search of help, thinking the next train wasn't due for an hour. Unfortunately, he'd completely forgotten about Tangmere, who was just rounding the bend when her bright headlamp spotted the destroyed cart of lime fast approaching at the crossing.

"Stop!", she cried. Her driver and fireman also saw the cart dead ahead. They applied the brakes and jumped clear. But it was already too late. Tangmere closed her eyes and awaited the upcoming impact. There was a loud crash as she broke the cart to smithereens. Lime flew and floated everywhere. After checking that Tangmere wasn't hurt, her driver and fireman took her to the nearest signal box. Clan Line was already there resting in a siding in front of the signal box. She couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles at the sight of Tangmere covered in bright white lime.

"I know they all call you the dirty lady Tangmere, but this' just ridiculous.", she giggled. Tangmeres driver spoke to the signalman about the accident.

"I'll see to it.", said the signalman, "But you'd better clean Tangmere, or people will think she's a ghost." Tangmere chuckled as an idea stoked itself into her firebox.

"Do lets pretend I'm a ghost, and scare Tornado, that'll teach her for saying I'm a silly old engine.", she said rolling her eyes in excitement. Clan Line promised to help. She told Tangmere that Tornado was hauling an evening special tonight, and that by now, she'll be back at King's Cross shed getting oiled. After they arranged a plan, Clan Line set off for King's Cross shed to put the plan into action. As she went, owls were hooting loudly and the moon was shining at its brightest. Tree branches were pointing sharply and dangerously towards her, wanting to scratch her sparkling green paint, and the mist was hovering effortlessly in all directions. She soon arrived at the shed tender first, the shed door closing when she entered. Tornado was indeed already inside being oiled for her evening special.

"Tangmere has had an accident.", cried Clan Line.

"Poor engine.", replied Tornado bluntly. Then she realised something. "Botheration, that means I'll be late!"

"They've cleared the line for you, but there's something worse.", said Clan Line worryingly.

"Out with it Clan Line!", said Tornado impatiently, "I can't wait all evening!"

"I've just seen something.", Clan Line stuttered, "It looked like Tangmeres ghost. It said it was, w-was coming here t-t-to warn us."

"Huh! Who cares!", Tornado spat in response, "Don't be frightened Clan Line I'll take care of you.", she added sarcastically, clearly not believing Clan Lines tale. Meanwhile outside, a lime covered Tangmere had just arrived at the shed and stopped outside. Only Tornados berth shed door was open, so thankfully as it was part of the plan, she couldn't see her covered in lime. She took a deep breath and in her best ghostly sounding voice, whaled…

"Beep! Beep! Bip-bip-bip-BEEP! Let me in! Let me in!" Tornado was startled. Clan Line saw this and realised the plan was working. She quickly got back into character.

"No! No!", she cried, "Not by the smoke on my chimney-chim-chim!"

"I'll chuff, and I'll puff, and I'll break your door in!", whaled Tangmere as her berths shed doors slowly creaked open.

"Oh dear!", exclaimed Tornado, "It's getting late, ooh I'd no idea, oh I must find my coaches!" And with that, she hurried away frightened out of her steam. Tangmere and Clan Line laughed, their ghostly trick had worked.

Tornado didn't return to the shed until next morning. She was still gob smacked by what happened last night. Clan Line was still parked inside the shed.

"Where have you been?", she asked.

"Ah well", said Tornado, "I knew you'd be said about Tangmere and I err, I didn't like to intrude. I slept in the goods shed and…" Before she could continue, they suddenly heard Tangmeres whistle. Tornado however mistook it for a ghost whistle, her mind was still locked on the events of last night, that she completely forgot about what Tangmeres whistle sounded like. "Oh, sorry, can't stop, got to see a coach about a train!" And with a blow of the whistle by her cab, she hastily puffed out of the shed. Tangmere was none the worst for her adventure, and was still enjoying herself enormously. She had heard everything. She had just had a wash down and was now back to her original dark green paint. She entered the shed and parked next to Clan Line.

"Well, well, well, what do you know about that?", she asked smiling.

"Anyone would think", chuckled Clan Line, "That our Tornado had just seen a **GHOST**." She said the word _ghost_ so spookily and loud enough for it to echo around the shed. The two engines laughed, last night was one they'll definitely never forget.

**Well, that's it, episode 2's finally done. Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'Ghost Train/Percy's Ghostly Trick'**_**. I'm sorry if it's a bit short. Again, feel free to send me criticism. If you have any episode ideas then let me know because I don't know when episode 3 will be done, but I'll start work on it as soon as I can. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for reading, have a happy Halloween, don't have nightmares, goodnight!**


	3. Lost in the Fog

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - the tracks are all foggy, Braunton has a problem and we learn how a breakdown crane works.**

Episode 3: Lost in the Fog

It was a lovely morning in Great Britain…actually I take that back, it was actually looking rather gloomy as pure grey clouds were gathering in the sky. However no rain was forecast today, so what could this mean? Well, Tornado was chuffing merrily on a countryside her way to work. She looked over to her left and spotted something over the hills.

"Oh err driver", she said cautiously, "I think there's smoke across there, and it's not coming from me." Her driver chuckled at her little joke before answering.

"No, that's not smoke Tornado", he replied, That's hill fog, and it's getting thicker by the minute. If it gets any thicker, drivers will have a worse sense of direction than James May." Tornado couldn't help but giggle at her drivers remark. Him just mentioning the name James May brought back memories of when she took part in a Top Gear race from London to Edinburgh. Although she enjoyed the journey, especially with Jeremy Clarkson as her fireman, and the race, she was disappointed that James somehow managed to beat her in what was once known as the fastest car in the world, a Jaguar XK120. Ah well, at least she finished well ahead of Richard Hammond who was on what was once known as the fastest bike in the world, a Vincent Blackshadow. Those were the days. Just then, as she trundled happily along, she came across a red signal. She had to stop. She noticed that parked next to her in a siding taking on water was rebuilt SR West Country Class No.34046 _'Braunton'_. Now for those of you who don't know Braunton, she's the newest member to the mainline fleet. Upon the eventual completion of her restoration, she was granted her mainline certificate following successful tests…however this did take place only three months ago. So Braunton is the fleets newest member, while Tornado is the youngest. The duo have got on well since Braunton joined the fleet.

"Hey Braunton", said Tornado, "You see that hill fog over there?". Braunton looked over and noticed the hill fog in the distance closing in on them.

"Oh man", Braunton groaned, "What a time to forecast a foggy day, I'm working the Torbay Express today."

"Lets hope you don't get lost, eh newbie?", Tornado smirked cheekily.

"Oh don't you worry about me youngster", replied Braunton, "I can take care of myself."

Later that morning, Braunton was coupled up to her coaches for the Torbay Express. The fog was continuing to cave in on her, but she remained remarkably calm about it all. Just then, the guard blew his whistle. Braunton whistled in return, and she began to pull her 8-coach train along the line. As the journey ventured further, the fog was gathering pace, it looked as though it was gonna cover the whole landscape any minute, but Braunton continued to remain unfazed, there was no stopping her…well, until her fireman received a phone call.

"Just received word down the line that the fog is now too thick for anyone to see or work", he said, "And that all trains must stop at the nearest station for service termination." Braunton was relieved by this news.

"Thank god for that", she replied, "I can't see anymore." She tried narrowing her eyes in the hopes of a better view, but it failed miserably. Even her weak headlamp wasn't offering any hope, as it wasn't shining bright enough for her to see ahead. Dawlish Warren was the next station, and when they arrived, her driver had to use a torch to uncouple her from the coaches, and on this occasion, even an easy job like that was easier said than done, but he managed it eventually. Along with the fog, it was also very cold and Braunton wanted to return to her nice warm shed, but her driver and fireman weren't really convinced.

"How are we supposed to reach our respective homes without getting lost in the fog?", asked the fireman worryingly.

"How about we take it carefully", Braunton suggested confidently, "That way we won't have an accident should we go the wrong way."

"But how will we know we're going the right way?", asked the driver desperately, "We don't have maps of the tracks you know!"

"Trust me.", replied Braunton calmly, "I'm sure I'll be back at my shed before dark." Realising that Braunton had made her decision, the driver and fireman reluctantly accepted defeat, fired her up, and their worrying journey home began. Remembering she was in the seaside town of Dawlish in south Devon, she chuffed carefully around Langstone Rock and cautiously along the rails next to the seawall and through the tunnel at the end. She ventured further down the line. A set of points was up ahead. Now, for Braunton to get closer to her shed, she had to go straight over the points, however they were set for Braunton to go down the track heading to the left, and to rub salt into the wound, because of the fog, neither Braunton, or her driver and fireman noticed this. They went over the points, completely unaware that they were now travelling in the wrong direction.

"I must get home, I must get home.", said Braunton desperately, completely forgetting about being careful. Then there was trouble. Her faint headlamp suddenly fizzled out. She was now completely blind. And to add to that, there was a set of buffers ahead. It turns out she had been sent into a siding by the points. Braunton failed to see the buffers until it was too late. She crashed through the buffers shattering it into smithereens, bounced over the soggy grass and eventually came to a stop, leaning against a tree after losing her balance. Her eyes rolled furiously. She finally won back control of them after a few seconds.

"Bust my buffers!", she cried, "And don't start making jokes about what I just said following what I just did!" Her driver and fireman weren't hurt, but worried. They tried calling for help, but their phones failed to receive any signal. There was no denying it now, they were stranded in the middle of nowhere.

"Looks like we're gonna have to wait for help.", said the driver.

Meanwhile, Tornado was resting alone at Kings Cross shed. She was however beginning to worry. Where was Braunton? Tornado knew that for Braunton to get to her shed, she had to pass Kings Cross, but it was 4pm, and there was still no sign of her. Where could she be? Eventually, Tornado made a decision, but she had to ask her driver and fireman first.

"Can we go and look for Braunton, she hasn't past us for hours?", she asked.

"We certainly can.", replied her driver and fireman confidently together. So they fired up Tornado, switched on her headlamp which, as it was stronger than Brauntons, would be able to see what was ahead of them…just.

"Now lets go and find my friend.", said a determined Tornado. With a blow of her chime whistle, Tornado set off into the thickness of the fog. She searched all over Great Britain, whether it's in junctions, goods yards or sheds, the search wasn't going very well, because no matter where they looked, Braunton was nowhere to be seen. After a whole 45 minutes of searching, Tornado decided to search along the route Braunton would've taken for the Torbay Express. She rounded a bend, when her headlamp faintly spotted something in the distance. It was another engine, but unfortunately it wasn't Braunton. It was however on the same track! Realising this, Tornado gasped in horror. Her driver quickly applied the brakes and she shut her eyes. Eventually, after much flying sparks and screeching from her wheels against the tracks, she skidded to a halt, right in front of the engine.

"Tornado? What're you doing here?", spoke the sound of a posh feminine voice. Tornado opened her eyes and saw LNER A4 Class No.60009 _'Union of South Africa'_ gazing questioningly at her.

"I might ask you the same thing.", replied Tornado confused.

"You're probably doing what I'm doing, and that's looking for Braunton. At some point during your part of the search, your driver called mine requesting my assistance.", Union of South Africa answered.

"So we're both on the same mission then, and so far we've both had no luck.", said Tornado frowning. Just then, Union of South Africa noticed that resting between them was a set of points that led into what looked rather like the wilderness because of the fog.

"Maybe Braunton went down that way. I'll go and have a look.", she said and set off down that line. Tornado stayed behind, well she had to now that the points was against her. Union of South Africa ventured down the siding, her headlamp shining brightly and forging the way forward. Then an idea flew into her funnel. If she blew her whistle, if Braunton was here, she'll hopefully whistle back. So, with one big puff, Union of South Africa blew her whistle as loudly as she could. At the end of the siding, Braunton had indeed heard the A4s whistle. She was happy to find that help was close by, the search party hadn't yet found her but they were very close. There was nothing for it, Braunton had to whistle back. So, with the biggest puff she probably ever puffed, Braunton blew her whistle as loud as possible. Union of South Africa heard the whistle and carried on eagerly down the siding. When she reached the end, the search officially came to a close. There was Braunton perched against the tree pinned in the soggy grass.

"Braunton!", Union of South Africa called out, "Are you ok?"

"I'm ok!", Braunton replied, "But you'd better get me back onto the rails ASAP, I don't think this tree's gonna be able to withstand my weight any longer!" Upon the recognition of the emergency, Union of South Africa raced back to Tornado.

"Tornado, go and get a breakdown crane, Braunton's derailed at the end of this siding!", she said urgently. Tornado hurried away to find the nearest breakdown crane. After a few minutes, she came back hastily.

"That was quick.", Union of South Africa remarked.

"They don't call me _Tornado_ for nothing." replied Tornado proudly, "Now show me the way to Braunton." Union of South Africa got out of the way so Tornado could reverse the breakdown crane to Braunton. When they reached her, the workmen who came with Tornado quickly got to work. They attached hooks to Braunton, and one workman operated the crane. The crane had to move Braunton away from the tree before it collapsed against her weight, which would send Braunton onto her side and make the job even harder. Steam shot out of the crane as it began to take the strain. Braunton was very heavy, but thankfully it didn't require an awful lot of effort to get Braunton standing again. After a few minutes, there was no strain on the chains of the crane, and Braunton was standing straight again. She breathed a big sigh of relief, especially as it was at that moment, there was a loud crack and the tree she was leaning on eventually couldn't stay standing any longer. It toppled down to the ground with a loud crash. It was also fortunate that Braunton was perfectly in line with rails.

"Alright Braunton, we're just gonna get the crane out of the way." said Union of South Africa. She and Tornado made their way back to the points and left the crane on the track Tornado arrived on. They then returned with the workmen who had brought some rope with them.

"Ok Braunton, we can't use the crane as it doesn't have any tracks to lift you onto, so the workmen are going to attach some rope to you and Tornado, so she can pull you back onto the rails.", Union of South Africa instructed. "Are you up for it Tornado?"

"I'm ready when Braunton is.", Tornado replied confidently. The workmen gave the thumbs up meaning Braunton and Tornado were now joined together by the strong rope.

"Ready Braunton?", asked Union of South Africa.

"Go for it Tornado!", replied Braunton. So Tornado began to pull. Braunton was indeed very heavy, even the strong rope was already feeling the strain, let alone the chains on the breakdown crane. Tornado puffed and pulled and pulled and puffed. Braunton was slowly but surely edging closer to the rails, but now to get her onto them, starting with the tender. Tornado continued to pull, her recently fixed sanding gear was working a treat, giving her excellent grip on the rails. The wheels of the tender eventually started to meet the rails and after much puffing and pulling, the tender was back on the tracks. However, Tornado now faced the hardest part of the operation, getting Braunton herself back onto the tracks.

"Keep pulling Tornado, just got to get Braunton herself back onto the rails now!", encouraged Union of South Africa who was moving backwards out of Tornados way. She could see the strain on Tornados face, her cheeks were pure red. Tornado didn't want stop though, and she continued to puff and pull, her wheels spun and spun as they were running out of sand to get grip from. At this point in the operation, Brauntons pony truck **(the set of wheels below her cab) **was now back on the rails, now for the main drive wheels. Tornados wheels continued to spin furiously. If engines could sweat, Tornado would be showered in it by now. Her fireman was working hastily in the cab, shovelling coal into her firebox as fast as he possibly could to keep her steaming and her driver working the regulator as best as he could to keep her pulling, and their efforts were now really beginning to pay off as the first pair of Brauntons driving wheels reconnected with the rails, shortly followed by the second pair. As the third and final pair rejoined the tracks, Tornado eased off and carefully and successfully pulled Braunton clear of the end of the tracks. All the workmen cheered and Union of South Africa blew her whistle ecstatically.

"You did it Tornado, you did it!", she cheered.

"Well done Tornado.", congratulated her driver and fireman.

"Thank you Tornado.", said Braunton smiling gratefully. Tornado just breathed heavily and smiled weakly in response. It wasn't just her cheeks, her whole face was now pure red with pure exhaustion. The workmen then preceded to unattached Tornado and Braunton from the rope. When they were finished, they started work on fixing the broken buffers, which will probably take them awhile. Union of South Africa pulled both Tornado and Braunton back to the points. Then she coupled them up to the breakdown crane and pushed the three of them towards Kings Cross shed in what looked like very strange looking light engine movement. As they went along the fog was starting to lift and rise out of their faces. Eventually, by the time they reached the shed and uncoupled the breakdown crane next to it, the fog was gone and the clouds were clearing in the sky. The three engines were now in Kings Cross shed reflecting the days events.

"Thanks so much for rescuing me you two. I promise not to do that again." Braunton smiled but she was still fretting over what she'd done.

"Oh it was nothing Braunton.", replied Union of South Africa, "Just remember that for next time this sort of event happens…which will be very unlikely, just stay where you are and await further information. Besides, Tornado deserves more credit for pulling you back onto the rails." The duo looked over at Tornado and realised that she had fallen asleep.

"Well, I suppose you can't really blame her.", remarked Braunton. She and Union of South Africa laughed, Tornado had certainly had a tiring day and she can be happy in the knowledge that her worm parts from the rescue will be mended in the morning.

**Well, there we go, that's episode 3 done! Hope you enjoyed it and please review and place criticism within your reviews. Any ideas for episode will be welcomed. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thank you so much for reading, goodnight!**


	4. A Scarf for Tornado

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - Braunton makes an unfunny little joke, some inspectors pay a visit and Tornado looks like a blue painted, trouser wrapped jam jar.**

Episode 4: A Scarf for Tornado

It was a cold winters morning in Great Britain, The wind was bitter and the ground hard with frost. Tornado and Braunton were at Kings Cross shed feeling very irritated, let alone cold. They were waiting for the firelighter to arrive to light up their fireboxes.

"All I want is a warm boiler.", huffed Braunton, "Firelighter knows that, he's late!"

"He's not late.", replied Tornado, "This freezing weather woke us up early." Gusts of wind swirled round the shed, tossing flakes of snow towards Braunton. They then whooshed round Tornado to.

"Why don't we talk about something else?", suggested a shivering Tornado.

"Yes.", replied Braunton, "Like how silly we look when our funnels turn into icicles."

"That's not funny. Maybe we'll stop feeling cold if we talk about warm things like sunshine and steam."

"And firelighters.", muttered Braunton.

…

"Scarves!", continued Tornado.

"Scarves?", laughed Braunton, "That's what you need Tornado, a woolly scarf around your funnel." Braunton was only teasing but Tornado thought blissfully about scarves until the firelighter eventually arrived.

A bunch of rail inspectors were going on a tour along the mainline to inspect the track. They wanted to make sure the tracks were still in good working condition for the engines to run on them safely, especially in weather like this. The head inspector was in his hotel room. He had just finished his breakfast of hot porridge and he pressed his special new trousers, why I don't know!

"I shall pack them in my suitcase and change into them just before the photographs are taken.", he said to his wife, then he set off, holding his suitcase in his right hand with his trousers packed inside, to meet up with the rest of the inspectors.

The wind had now stopped whooshing, but the ground was still littered with frost. Tornado was now hard at work, taking an morning passenger train along a piece of frozen countryside. Her fire was burning nicely, and she had plenty of steam. But she was still thinking about scarves. Wherever she went, whether it was passengers or workmen, she saw everyone wearing a scarf. She arrived at the next station up ahead. Tangmere was in the station siding taking on coal.

"My funnel's cold, my funnel's cold!", complained Tornado, "I want a scarf, I want a scarf!"

"Rubbish Tornado!", exclaimed Tangmere, "Engines don't wear scarves."

"Engines with proper funnels do.", huffed Tornado, "You've only got a hole in your roof for your smoke to escape from." Tangmere felt insulted, but before she could answer, Tornado puffed impatiently away. Tangmere wheeshed steam and snorted indignantly. She was at least looking forward to pulling the special train, which basically means she was chosen to take the inspectors on their tour.

Later that afternoon, it was time for the photographs. All the inspectors were looking forward to getting started. The head inspector was waiting on the platform for his trousers. They were in a suitcase amongst a big load of baggage. The porters were escorting the baggage trolley across the line. They were walking backwards to make sure that nothing fell off. However, after finishing her morning passenger train, Tornado was still being cheeky. Her driver always shut off steam just outside the station. Tornado wanted to surprise the coaches and coming in as quietly as she could. But the porters didn't hear her either…somehow. With a loud bump, Tornado forged through the trolley, knocking the frightened porters backwards and onto their backsides out of the way. Boxes and bags burst into the air. When Tornado finally stopped her eyes from rolling, she looked up and noticed the boxes and bags starting to fall back down towards everyone.

"Oh!", groaned Tornado as the boxes and bags crashed down, not only all over Tornado, but the rail inspectors also felt the same familiar pain. Everyone was covered in sticky streams of jam. **(why would some rail inspectors carry jam in their bags?)** The jam trickled down Tornados face, a top hat hung on her lamp iron, but worst of all, a pair of trousers coiled lovingly around her funnel. All the inspectors glared furiously at Tornado. The head inspector seized the top hat.

"Mine!", he bluntly stated angrily, "Tornado, look at this!"

"Yes sir, I am sir.", replied Tornado apologetically turning her eyes towards the jam stained top hat Then the head inspector pointed at what was resting around her funnel and between her smoke deflectors.

"My best trousers too!"

"Yes sir, please sir."

"Thanks to you, we must now pay for our spoiled clothes to get cleaned at the nearest laundrette, and most crucially, my trousers are ruined! Your driver told me over the phone that you liked playing tricks on the coaches by entering stations as quietly as possible, well I hope this'll teach you not to do that again in future!" Poor Tornado scampered off to the yard, she felt very frivolous. While on her journey to the yards, she came across Clan Line resting in a siding.

"Hello Tornado, so you've found a scarf eh? But you do know that it's legs that fit snugly into trousers, not funnels." And she hurried away eagerly so she can tell Tangmere the very amusing news.

That evening as the sun was setting behind the clouds, Tornado and Braunton were resting back at Kings Cross shed. Tornados driver had taken away the trousers and had given Tornado a good rub down.

"Firelighters promised to come early tomorrow.", said Braunton. Just then, Tangmere arrived. She had finished taking the inspectors along the mainline. She enjoying the journey especially as the inspectors seemed impressed. But now though, she felt sympathetic towards Tornado too.

"Driver says the weather's gonna be whole lot warmer tomorrow.", she reported, "So I don't think you're gonna be needing a scarf, eh Tornado?"

"Certainly not.", replied Tornado, "Engines don't wear scarves, all an engine needs is a warm boiler, everyone knows that!"

**Well, there we go. That's episode 4 done and dusted. Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'A Scarf for Percy'**_**. Please review and feel free to place criticism. I apologise if it's a bit short. A huge thanks goes to **_**'tate310'**_** for giving me the idea. If anyone has any ideas for episode 5 then let me know. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for reading, goodnight!**


	5. Sovereigns Derailment

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - a fat man delivers a message, a part of a new character catches fire and Tornado discovers the breakdown train **_**(Tornado: I already know what a breakdown train is…!)**_

Episode 5: Sovereigns Derailment

Mr George Walkers, aka the Fat Director, is a short and stout man who's in charge of every single mainline steam operation all across Great Britain. Wearing his trusty white top hat, jacket and trousers, his grey waistcoat and black tie and shoes, he would certainly stand out in a crowd because of his lack of fashion sense, but he's a proud person who has the final decision on whether steam services should be allowed to continue should it run into a problem or whether it should be terminated if the problem's deadly serious. Like most bosses, he can be stern and strict when things do go wrong, especially if the engine's the main source of blame, however everyone's fortunate that he always seems to know what to do to solve these problems. All the engines are happy to have him in charge as he always seems to know what to do. Everyday, he would come into London to catch his early morning train, which would normally be hauled by Union of South Africa, and today was no exception. Occasionally, he'd also come into the yard where he'd find Tornado warming up for the day. Today, Tornado had just woken up by the time he arrived.

"Hello Tornado.", he said to her, "After your recent events Tornado, I've decided that you can have the day off. Remember though, should you want to go out onto the mainline today, be careful of traffic and also remember not to be impatient if you have to stop at a red signal, everyday's a busy day."

"Yes sir, thank you sir.", smiled Tornado happily. As much as she loved working passenger services out on the mainline, it was nice to get the day off every now and then.

"Also, don't be surprised of you see your steam engine friends hauling goods trains today, apparently the country's currently in the middle of an oil shortage and that includes diesel oil. We still have enough oil for your joints and all that, but there's not enough diesel oil left for the diesel engines, so I've had to persuade some of the steam engines to haul the goods trains today. They weren't convinced, but reluctantly accepted. So, if you see a steam engine pulling trucks today, you'll know why." added the Fat Director.

"Ok sir", replied Tornado. And with that, the Fat Director left to catch his train which will take him to his office at the main station. Tornado remained in the yard so she can take on water. She slowly made her way to the water tower. Her driver and fireman exited the cab and started work. The fireman took the hose from the water tower, while the driver climbed onto the tender and open Tornados filler cap. The fireman passed the hose over to the driver, who then carefully placed the hose over the filler cap. The fireman then turned on the hose tap, making the water shoot along the hose and through the filler cap into Tornados tender. Tornado looked around the yard. She noticed a small dark green coloured works unit coach and it was coupled up to two big red things. These are what her driver and fireman call cranes. The driver noticed where Tornado was looking.

"That's the breakdown train Tornado." he told her.

"Yes, I already know what a breakdown train is!", retorted Tornado angrily, "Union of South Africa and myself used one to rescue Braunton and get her back onto the rails remember?!"

"Oh yeah.", sighed the driver as he hung his head in embarrassment as the memories flooded back into his head.

"You know absolutely nothing don't you mate?", laughed the fireman. The driver shook his head, still managing a weak smile through his flushed face, which was now as red as a tomato with humiliation. Tornado couldn't help but giggle.

That afternoon, Tornado was still in the yard, however she was this time taking on more coal. Workmen were using a JCB in order to collect the coal which was littered all over the ground, and then scoop it up into the bucket of the JCB so it can transfer the coal over to Tornados tender. Tornado sighed happily as she relaxed in the sun, her BR express blue paint twinkled in the sunshine, not even the soot from the coal was able to spoil this sparkling paintwork. However, just as she began to doze off, she was suddenly woken up by the sound of an engine whistling urgently.

"Help, help!" A goods train came rushing through along the mainline much too fast. The engine was LNER Stanier Black 5 Class No.44871 _'Sovereign'_, and she was frightened, her brake blocks were on fire. Sparks were shooting out from beneath her in all directions. And to add insult to injury…

"They're pushing me, they're pushing me!", she panted.

"On, on, on!", laughed the trucks.

"Oh why did the Fat Director decide to have me as one of the engines to replace the diesels on the goods trains following the announcement of the diesel oil shortage?!", she cried. Still whistling "Help, help!", poor Sovereign disappeared into the distance. A watching Tornado helplessly looked down the line in the direction Sovereign went.

"I might not be a goods engine, but I'd still like to teach those trucks a lesson.", she said eagerly. Her chance came sooner than expected. Just as she said this, the alarm on the signal box a few metres down the line suddenly went off, sounding long and loud. The signalman emerged from the signal box.

"Sovereign's off the line, the breakdown train quickly!", he called out urgently to Tornado. This was a real emergency. Realising this, Tornado hastily changed tracks, coupled up to the breakdown train and the works unit coach for the workmen, and set off to the rescue. As she left the yard pushing the cranes, Tornado worked at her hardest, desperate to get to the scene of the crash.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!", she puffed. She wasn't pretending to make it look as though she was hauling a passenger train, she really meant it, but her driver knew that if they really did go at that speed, the breakdown train would probably rock and roll off the tracks around sharp bends, so he kept the speed down.

"Easy there girl, easy.", he said to her calmly. However, Tornado still wanted to get a move on.

"Bother those trucks and their tricks, I sincerely hope poor Sovereign isn't hurt.", Tornado prayed as she chuffed along the track, desperate to rescue the black 5 ASAP.

Poor Sovereign had derailed and crashed into a field in the middle of some open countryside. Her left front buffer had dug itself into the bone dry grass, scooping up the dirt as a result. She was resting on her side, as was her tender which had spilt its supply of coal all over the tracks. As for the trucks, well they had scattered themselves all over the field and the tracks from behind. The majority of them had emerged from the accident without any major breaks on them, the first few however were shattered and cracked in several places. Sovereigns driver and fireman were feeling her all over **(no not like that!)** to see if she was hurt.

"Never mind Sovereign.", they said, "It wasn't your fault. It was those idiotic trucks and those wooden brakes that caused the accident. We always said that those brakes made of wood were never gonna do you any favours." Just then, they heard the sound of a chime whistle. Tornado puffed in onto the scene with the breakdown train and the workmen getting ready for work inside the works unit coach. Tornado pushed the breakdown train alongside Sovereign, then she did something else she's not used to, pulling the unhurt trucks out of the way.

"Oh dear, oh dear.", groaned the trucks as Tornado coupled up to the first bunch.

"Serves you right, serves you right!", huffed Tornado as she pulled them away from the scene. She was hard at work puffing backwards and forwards all afternoon.

"This'll teach you a lesson, this'll teach you a lesson!", she told the trucks as she gave them a forceful biff.

"Yes it will, yes it will.", answered the trucks hurtfully. With all the unhurt trucks soon out of the way, the broken trucks were left where they were as they were now deemed useless and in need of scrap. All the focus was now on getting Sovereign back onto the tracks. The workmen can be happy in the knowledge that the Fat Director had heard about the accident and that he'd closed this section of track for them so there wouldn't be any delays. They first had to get Sovereign standing upright before attempting to get her back onto the rails. They attached some chains around Sovereign and then used the crane hooks to grab hold of the chains. The hook heaved with all its might as Sovereign slowly but surely began to rise up and eventually came down back onto her wheels with a loud thump. Now for stage two, getting Sovereign and her tender back onto the tracks. The workmen attached the chains and hooks to Sovereigns tender as they were going to get that back onto the rails first. It was an easy job as the tender wasn't as heavy as Sovereign. The tender was lifted into the air and then lowered back onto the tracks front of a watching Tornado in a matter of minutes. Now though, it was time for the hardest part of the operation which was to get Sovereign herself back onto the rails. And they'd better be quick, because the sun was beginning to set behind the clouds. They hastily but carefully connected the cranes hooks to the chains which were now attached to Sovereign, coiled lovingly around her buffers. With the all clear signal given, the cranes began to take the strain. Sovereign was slowly lifted off the ground and into the air. Tornado watched nervously as the cranes raised Sovereign to an appropriate height. They then moved her over to the track Tornado was on. Just as they stopped with the black 5 now hovering over the rails, the wind was starting to pick up, and it blew ferociously against them. A frightened Sovereign closed her eyes as she began to wobble against the strong gust. However, the cranes weren't intimidated as they carefully lowered her down back onto the tracks. Sovereign breathed a collective sigh of relief. She tried to move but she couldn't, so Tornado coupled up to her tender, and pulled her gently back to the yard. The workmen and the cranes were left behind so they can clear up the mess. When Tornado and Sovereign arrived at the yard, the Fat Director was waiting anxiously for them.

"Well Tornado", he said, "I've heard all about the events of today and I'm very pleased with you, you're a really useful engine. Sovereign shall have some proper brakes and a new coat of paint, and you shall visit the preserved railway of your choice in a weeklong stay."

"Oh thank you sir!", smiled Tornado, delightfully rolling her eyes in pure excitement.

Tornado chose to join her friend Kinlet Hall and visit the Severn Valley Railway, which ran from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth over 16 miles of beautiful countryside, with stations at Bewdley, Arley, Highley and Hampton Loade en route to each end of the railway. Unsurprisingly though, Tornado was now as happy as can be, escorting passengers up and down this beautiful preserved railway alongside Kinlet Hall. They always had other engines to talk to of course, which included Tangmeres rebuilt brother No.34053 _'Sir Keith Park'_, GWR Manor Class No.7812 _'Erlestoke Manor'_ and LMS Ivatt Class 4 No.43106 _'The Flying Pig'_. Tornado was enjoying her time on the SVR immensely. We join her one sunny morning dropping off passengers at Arley station. She couldn't carry on her journey until Kinlet Hall had arrived. A few minutes later, Kinlet Hall came into view rounding the bend, blowing her whistle long and loud as she approached.

"This' the life, eh Tornado?", Kinlet Hall asked as she entered the station. Tornado smiled proudly.

**And there we go, episode 5 now done! Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'Thomas and the Breakdown **_**Train'. Please review and feel free to place criticism within them. A huge thanks again goes to **_**'tate310'**_** for giving me the idea and for letting me use his character **_**'Mr George Walkers, aka the Fat Director'**_**. All ideas for episode 6 will be welcomed. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for reading, goodnight!**


	6. You Will Learn From Mistakes

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - a couple of black 5s overrun a platform, Sovereign receives a threat and a footplate crew use a bootlace.**

Episode 6: You Will Learn From Mistakes

A week had now past since Sovereigns accident and the black 5 was now back out and about on the mainline. However, she still had to haul trucks because of the diesel oil shortage. She was beginning to get used to it and was more careful with them to make sure they didn't push her again. But all the same, all she wanted was to return to passenger duties. Fortunately, her chance came sooner than expected. One bright sunny morning, the Fat Director came to see her and her brother No.45407 _'The Lancashire Fusilier_'.

"Hello my black 5s.", he said to them, "I'm looking to trust you two when you double head the _'Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express'_ along the Settle and Carlisle route today. We all know that black 5s like yourselves were originally built for goods duties, but you've both have proven to be successful on passenger trains too. However, you must learn from your mistakes." Lancashire Fusilier understood this, Sovereign however knew exactly what the Fat Director meant as memories and images of the accident she had last week were still fresh in her mind. Later that morning, Sovereign was reversing the coaches into Settle station with Lancashire Fusilier watching closely and carefully.

"Be careful with the coaches Sovereign.", Lancashire Fusilier warned his sister, "They don't like being bumped." But Sovereign was too excited to be pulling coaches again that she wasn't really listening to her brother. She brought the coaches into the station safely. All the passengers on the platform came over to her and began admiring her shining black paint. Sovereign personally found this rather surprising, in a good way.

"I'm a really splendid engine." she thought as she suddenly let off steam, "Wheesh!" The Fat Director was watching on the platform and the steam from Sovereign concealed him, resulting in water being showered onto his nice new top hat. He took his top hat off to observe the mess made, but this resulted in his head being showered in water also. He wasn't very pleased about this, but there wasn't anything he could do now because the guard had blown his whistle just as Lancashire Fusilier had coupled up in front of his sister. Upon the sound of the whistle, Sovereign thought they'd better go.

"Go on, go on!", she puffed to her brother.

"Don't push, don't push.", replied Lancashire Fusilier as they departed Settle station. The coaches were grumbling too.

Don't go so fast, don't go so fast!", they grumbled, however Sovereign didn't listen.

Both engines trundled merrily down the line without mishap. Well, that was the case until they reach Horton-in-Ribblesdale station. When their brakes were applied in an attempt to stop, they couldn't until they, along with two of the ten-coach train had overran the platform. Embarrassingly, they had to reverse so the passengers wanting to get off here could get out. However no one seemed to know about the Fat Directors top hat, so Sovereign felt happier. Later on, they were presently entering the next station, Ribblehead, where Tornado was waiting with her own passenger service. Tornados weeklong stay at the Severn Valley Railway had come to an end and she was now back working mainline trains again. Lancashire Fusilier whistled hello to her, and she whistled back, but she then caught sight of Sovereign.

"Hello Sovereign.", said Tornado, "Feeling better? That's right." After a few minutes of idling in the station, the guard of Tornados train blew his whistle.

"Oh that's my guards whistle, I must go.", said Tornado, "I don't know what the Fat Director would do if I had never been built five years ago so I can run services across the nation alongside the rest of you." And she puffed importantly away. That afternoon, Lancashire Fusilier and Sovereign were passing the field where Sovereign had had her accident. The turf was resurfaced and the cows had returned. The black 5s whistled hello to them and they just mooed in response. They continued en route to Carlisle, stopping at all the timetabled stations on their way, and they were making sure not to overrun any more platforms. A few hours later, they finally caught sight of the final stop, Carlisle station. They approached carefully and their brakes were applied at exactly the right moment. They came to a stop at the end of the platform without overrunning it. The journey was over. The black 5s rested in the station sidings before setting off for home. Lancashire Fusilier was talking to his driver and fireman. Meanwhile, Sovereign was lost in thought. She was very worried about what the Fat Director would have to say about his water-stained top hat. Two hours after arriving at Carlisle, after taking on more coal and water each, the black 5s were coupled up at the other end of the train ready to head back to Settle, with Lancashire Fusilier once again leading the way. When they heard the guard blow his whistle, they whistled back and set off en route back to Settle.

Next morning, Sovereign and Lancashire Fusilier woke up full of steam…well, Lancashire Fusilier was anyway. Sovereign was still fretting about what the Fat Director was gonna eventually say to her. She watched her brother leave their shed and off to perform his work for the day. She was just about to follow her brother when…

"And just where do you think you're going Sovereign?" Sovereign stopped instantly and looked over to her left. There stood a very angry Fat Director. Sovereign gulped and braced herself for those stern words.

"Now you listen to me Sovereign, if you can't behave, I shall take away your black coat and have you painted green!", snarled the Fat Director furiously. Sovereign didn't like the sound of that one bit, a BLACK 5, painted GREEN, that would be a terrible look on her, especially as she would no longer be known as a BLACK 5 and more likely be known as a GREEN 5, which sounds like a disgusting name for a steam locomotive. However, this telling off didn't make Sovereign upset, it made her angry. And she took out her anger on the grumbling coaches as she roughly brought them into Settle station later that morning.

"Don't talk, come on!", she called angrily to them. "Union of South Africa never has to fetch her own coaches.", she thought to herself, "And she's only painted green." To make Sovereign even more furious, this time, none of the passengers came over to admire her.

"I'll show them!", she thought as she puffed fumingly out of the station, "They think Union of South Africa and her sister Bittern are the only engines who can deliver mainline trains at high speeds!" Later in the journey, Sovereign was making good time and they soon reached a long stretch of track along the countryside.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry.", she puffed.

"You're going too fast, you're going too fast!", complained the coaches. Sovereign laughed and tried to go faster, but the coaches weren't going to let her.

"We're going to stop.", they said, "We're going to stop." Sovereign continued to chuff merrily along, rounding a bend and approaching Helm Tunnel, until she suddenly heard the screeching sound of brakes. She eventually came to a stop and the coaches bumped heavily into her.

"What's the matter?", she asked her driver.

"The brakes are hard on, leaking the pipes most likely.", he replied, "You've banged the coaches enough to make a leak in anything." He, the fireman and the guard then made their way to the coupling linking Sovereign and the first coach.

"How shall we mend it?", thought the guard.

"We'll do it with newspaper and a leather bootlace.", suggested the fireman.

"Well, where's the bootlace coming from?", asked the guard.

"Ask the passengers,", said the driver. Sovereign watched miserably as the crew made their way over to the passengers who had got out of the train, not to admire the countryside, but to wonder just what in the name of satans portion was going on. Just then, the guard spotted someone in the crowd. He was wearing an oversized white lab coat and black laced shoes. Also, attached to the left chest area of the coat was a nametag that read _'Dr. Philips Johnson'_. The guard noticed the laces on the doctor, so he made his way over to him.

"You have a leather bootlace there I see sir.", he said, "Please give it to me."

"I won't.", replied Dr. Philips Johnson bluntly, clearly not getting the idea.

"Then", said the guard, "I'm afraid the train will just stop where it is." The passengers complained to the Dr. about how bad he was, they were all very angry. At last, the Dr. couldn't take any more of the complaining and reluctantly handed his laces over to the guard, who made his way back to the coupling followed by the driver and fireman. The driver tied the pad of newspaper tightly round the hole in the brake pipe, and when they'd finished, the guard made his way back to the end of the train while the driver and fireman climbed back into Sovereigns cab, happy in the knowledge that the black 5 would now be able to pull the train. When the passengers were back inside the coaches and with a blow of her whistle, Sovereign puffed away with the coaches rattling right behind her. She was feeling very melancholy about these events. She entered Helm Tunnel fretting that the Fat Director will be angry at her once more. She also felt wiser as she would from now on take care to never bump coaches again.

**And there we go with episode 6. Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'James and the Coaches'**_**. Please review and feel free to place criticism. A huge thanks goes to **_**'tate310'**_** for the idea and letting me use his character **_**'Dr. Philips Johnson'**_**. All ideas for episode 7 will be welcomed. And on that bombshell, it's time to end , thanks very much for reading, goodnight!**


	7. Tornado Goes Fishing

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - Tornado crosses a bridge, a bucket gets lowered into a river and the Fat Director witnesses a startling realisation.**

Episode 7: Tornado Goes Fishing

Tornado the blue engine's very proud to be running along the mainlines of Great Britain. She thinks they're one of the best mainlines in the world, and there's no denying that if you asked anyone across the nation that question, they would instantly agree to that. One bright sunny morning, Tornado was puffing merrily along the track with her morning passenger train. Along the way, she crossed over a bridge. Below the bridge was a river. Tornado noticed that relaxing on the riverbank were a couple of fishermen. They were doing what they do best…fishing. The hooks on their rods were already soaking in the water and all they were doing now was waiting patiently for the fish to grab hold of the hooks so they can reel them in. Tornado really wanted to stop and watch them but her driver certainly wasn't going to let her.

"No!", he said sternly, "What would the Fat Director say if we were late?" Tornado sighed in defeat and carried on her journey. She really wanted to watch people fishing, it looked like lots of fun. In fact, it would probably be even more fun if she had a go at it herself. How hard can it be? All you do's throw a fishing line into the river, wait for the fish to grab hold of the hook and finally just reel the caught fish out of the water. That doesn't sound very difficult does it? Unfortunately from that point on, every time Tornado met another engine, like on this occasion when she met Union of South Africas sister A4 No.4464 _'Bittern'_, she would always receive the same response.

"I want to fish.", Tornado will say. However, just like every other engine Tornado had met, Bittern would respond by saying briefly and bluntly…

"Engines don't go fishing."

"Silly stick-in-the-muds!", thought Tornado angrily, clearly now fed up with constantly receiving that same answer from her friends after saying she wanted to go fishing. She was seriously desperate and determined to experience fishing now.

One lovely afternoon, Tornado was running the same train as before. She stopped as usual for taking on water at the station by the river. However, on this day, there was a big problem. The water tower at the station was unfortunately…

"Out of order? Oh god damn it!", huffed Tornado angrily, "How am I supposed to have a nice long drink to fill up my tanks now?! I'm really thirsty you know!"

"Calm down girl." assured her driver, "We'll get some water from the river." And so, with a blow of her chime whistle, Tornado chuffed out of the station with her carriages rattling merrily behind her. Her driver and fireman were aware of the problem with the water tower beforehand, so they had managed to find a bucket and some rope before they left the station…somehow. After a few minutes of chuffing down the line, the bridge finally came into view. Tornado though was beginning to feel a steam engines version of dehydration. Her cheeks were starting to glow bright red. Her tanks were almost empty. As she puffed onto the bridge, she came to a stop when she was directly over the calm flowing river underneath. Her driver attached the rope to the handle of the bucket. He then stood on the edge of the bridge and lowered the bucket down to the water. Unfortunately though, this grey coloured bucket was the only one he and the fireman could find. It was old and had five holes placed around the bottom. So, he had to fill it up, reel the bucket back up, pass it to the fireman who was standing over Tornados open fuel filler cap on her tender and then the fireman had to empty the buckets contents of water into Tornados tanks, all of which had to be done as quickly as possible, several times over. This task was a big ask, especially when you consider that being a tender engine, Tornado has a really big water tank. The passengers in Tornados carriages didn't seem to mind the unknown stoppage on the bridge because they were able to admire the views the bridge had to offer, whether it be the river, the trees, the fields or the animals nestled amongst the tall green grass. An hour had past now and the driver and fireman were starting what they hoped would be the last effort of transporting the water from the river into Tornados tanks. The driver held the rope firmly and he gently lowered the bucket into the river. After a few seconds, he raised the bucket from the water and saw that the bucket was full. Now he had to bring the bucket to the awaiting fireman as fast as he possibly could. He raised the bucket back up to himself from the river in a matter of seconds. As some water managed to escape through the small holes, he passed the bucket onto the fireman, who then tipped the bucket over and the water thundered into Tornados tanks. When all the water was poured out of the bucket and into the tanks, the now tired and red faced driver and fireman breathed a collective sigh of relief, the job was finally complete.

"Ok Tornado, that should be enough water to get us through the rest of the journey.", said the driver.

"That's good, that's good.", puffed Tornado happily as the redness on her cheeks slowly faded away. As soon as the driver and fireman hopped back into the cab, Tornado blew her chime whistle and was chuffing on her merry way once again. The passengers were pleased that the train was finally moving again, and at least they also got to enjoy themselves upon looking out of the open carriage windows and at the spectacular sights and sounds that were offered from the bridge while they were stationary. Tornado was feeling in fine working order a few minutes after the unfamiliar water stop as she chuffed happily along the line in the knowledge that the final station on this steam special was just a few more minutes away. However, just as she was rounding a bend, she suddenly started to feel a harsh and unwelcoming pain from well inside her boiler. Her driver and fireman noticed that steam was shooting out of her safety valve in an alarming way. They realised that this could only mean one thing.

"There's to much steam!", cried the driver. Poor Tornado was hurting tremendously as upon hearing this worrying news, it really didn't help matters.

"Cinders and ashes!", she groaned, "I'm going to burst, I'm going to burst!" The fireman dampened down her fire and the driver open the regulator so Tornado would be able to struggle onwards towards the last station.

"I've got such a pain, I've got such a pain.", Tornado hissed as she continued on her journey. Steam was consistently shooting itself like a bullet out of her safety valve, but the driver and fireman resisted this and continued their respective duties from within the cab. At long last after much wheezing and groaning, Tornado finally saw the last station enter her vision.

"Oh thank goodness for that.", she groaned painfully, "The last stop. The sooner I get there, the sooner I can receive my much needed health inspection." Continuously wheezing along the track, Tornado carefully entered the last station and stopped slowly and gracefully along the platform. The driver would then get out of Tornados cab and inform the station master about Tornados troubles. The station master quickly phoned the signalman, who upon realising the urgency of the emergency, changed the points so that Tornado would be able to enter the siding at the end of the line, a safe distance away from the station. Following her being uncoupled from the coaches, with her cheeks flaring bright red again, Tornado cautiously made her way forwards into the available siding. With a wheesh of steam, she came to a halt just in front of the buffers. The station master had alerted the Fat Director who was now on his way to the scene. While the fireman telephoned for an engine inspector, the driver found two large notice boards with the same message in big bright red letters on them, which he hung on Tornados front and rear buffers. The notice boards read _'Danger! Keep Away!'_. Tornado continued to cough and splutter with her boiler still aching horrendously. Eventually, after an hour, the engine inspector and the Fat Director arrived on the scene and they saw the very poorly looking Tornado.

"Cheer up Tornado.", they said, "We'll soon put you right." Tornados driver explained to the inspector and the Fat Director about what had happened. The inspector immediately got an idea of what the problem might be.

"So the feed pipe is blocked.", he said, "I'll just look in the tanks." The inspector had brought a ladder with him because he thought it might be needed, and on this occasion, it was indeed going to be required so he would be able to reach the top of Tornados tender. He leaned the ladder against Tornados tender, climbed up, opened the fuel filler cap and peered in. After a few seconds just as he realised the surprising cause of the problem, he climbed back down again.

"Excuse me sir, please look in the tank and tell me what you see."

"Certainly inspector.", replied the Fat Director. He clambered up the ladder, looked in and nearly fell off in surprise.

"Inspector…", he whispered, "Can you see…fish?" Now was the time for Tornados O Face moment, she was absolutely gob smacked. Fish of all things, inside her tanks?!

"Gracious, goodness me, how did the fish get there driver?", asked the Fat Director.

"We must have fished them from the river with our bucket.", replied Tornados driver. The Fat Director then turned his attention to Tornado who was now feeling very frivolous, her red cheeks were now a combination of pain and embarrassment.

"Well, well, well Tornado, it seems that you and your footplate crew have indeed attempted fishing. But you must realise that fish really don't suit you. Well I'm guessing that you really do realise fish don't suit you now I mean look at the state of you! I suppose we'd better go and get some fishing rods and retrieve those fish." Tornados fireman managed to retrieve a couple of fishing rods from a local fishing shop in town. He, the driver and the Fat Director then climbed up the ladder and onto Tornados tender. Tornado was praying that her tender was able to take this combined weight, especially as 75% of that weight came from the Fat Director. The driver and fireman took turns at fishing in Tornados tanks while the Fat Director looked on, giving them instructions on how to do it.

"Ok driver, the hook's now in the tank, now all you have to do's wait for the fish to grab hold of the hook and then reel them in quickly.", the Fat Director instructed. Just then, the drivers fishing rod felt a tug against it, one of the fish had grabbed hold of the hook. Realising this, the driver hastily reeled the fish out of the tank. Eventually, after much time of waiting patiently, all the fish were caught. Tornado was now feeling much better now that the fish were no longer causing any bother to her boiler, let alone her tanks. Just then, the Fat Director had an idea. He noticed a wooden bench in the distance. He told his idea to the driver and fireman, who agreed.

"Now that you mention it sir, I'm feeling a little bit peckish.", said the fireman. The Fat Director ordered some chips on his mobile., and when it arrived, the trio settled down on the bench for a lovely picnic supper of fish and chips. Tornado could only watch helplessly and in slight disgust. She just decided to close her eyes and relax her mind, keeping focus away from her days events. At last, after a while, the driver, fireman and the Fat Director had finished their afternoon fish and chips picnic. They wiped their mouths clean on their handkerchiefs.

"Mmm, that was good.", said the Fat Director as the trio made their way back to Tornado just as she opened her eyes upon hearing them coming towards her, where her driver and fireman removed the notice boards and placed them out of the way, "Now remember this Tornado, fish will never suit any engine, so you mustn't do this again, you hear me?"

"No sir I won't.", said Tornado sadly as her driver and fireman hopped into her cab and began reversing her away, "Engines don't go fishing, it's too uncomfortable."

**And there we are, episode 7's finally done! Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'Thomas Goes Fishing'**_**. Please review and feel free to place criticism within it. All ideas for episode 8 will be welcome. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for watching, goodnight.**


	8. Dirty Objects

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - we discover where the Jubilees are, Sovereign biffs some trucks and there's a massive crash inside a rail yard.**

Episode 8: Dirty Objects

LMS Jubilee Class No.45699 _'Galatea'_ was loving life back out on the mainlines of Great Britain. She was originally preserved as a source of spares for her three fellow preserved sisters, _'Kolhapur'_ **(who we met in episode 1)**, _'Leander'_ and _'Bahamas'_, mostly notably providing a spare boiler for Leander upon being rescued from scrap back in 1980. To this day, the sisters of Galatea are all currently off the mainline, with Kolhapur still awaiting overhaul at Tyseley Locomotive Works, the overhaul of Bahamas had recently just begun over at Ingrow West Shed on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and Leander was also undergoing overhaul over in Carnforth. As for Galatea, well during the preservation era, after a shunting accident she had that saw her middle driving wheel being cut before she had actually been preserved, Galatea had to undergo a complete rebuild by order of the West Coast Railway Company in order to get her back to good working condition. And after an everlasting wait of 40-50 years, she underwent some mainline test runs back in April and passed them all without any major mishaps. Since then, she has merrily been chuffing up and down the mainline happy in the knowledge that she was back where she belongs. As she entered Carnforth station with her passenger train one sunny morning, she was in a very good mood, smiling as brightly as the shining sun. However, her BR maroon paint was beginning to wear off, and if someone were to look very closely, they'd be able to spot little lumps of black on the recently restored Jubilee. But that didn't seem to bother Galatea though as she closed her eyes and relaxed under the rays of the sunshine listening to the birds singing sweetly. She sighed happily; boy did she love life. Just then, Sovereign arrived on her own passenger service. Sovereign had been given a stern talking to from the Fat Director and had now learned to be careful with coaches, especially as she'd managed to get out of it all without being painted green and with her current black paint intact. However, the whole ordeal had put her in a bit of a grumpy mood. The moment she saw Galatea, she huffed.

"Huh! What in the name of all that's holy is that dirty object?!", she shuddered rudely. Galatea frowned, feeling very offended. At that moment, a thought came into her mind.

"Sovereign?", she asked, "Why are you painted black?"

"Ok, one, I'm a BLACK 5! I can't be painted any other colour! And two, I'm a splendid engine, ready for anything, you'll never see my paint dirty.", Sovereign answered.

"Oh.", replied Galatea innocently, "That's why you once needed bootlaces to be ready I suppose."

"What?! Where did you hear about that?". Sovereign asked furiously.

"From your brother Lancashire Fusilier.", laughed Galatea.

"Grrgh! Just wait 'til I get my buffers on him!", shouted Sovereign as her face went bright red with a combination of embarrassment and fury. She snorted furiously away. It was still such an insult to be reminded of the time a bootlace had been used, to mend a hole in her coaches.

That afternoon, after Sovereign had calmed down and finished her morning passenger train, she was getting ready for her next journey. Unfortunately for her, that next journey was with a slow goods train . This meant that she would have to stop at every station in order to pick up and set down trucks. Sovereign shuddered in disgust as she chuffed through the countryside en route to where the trucks were waiting. She was feeling very consumed with discontent.

"Why do I have to be given the job of taking this dirty train.", she huffed angrily as she arrived at Toton Yard in Nottingham and saw the trucks waiting for her. Diesel engines were scattered all over the yard, but they were all stationary as the oil shortage was still playing its part on them. Sovereign puffed past the trucks and switched to the same track as them. She then began to reverse towards them. She was so fed up, she gave them a hard bump.

"Dirty trucks from dirty sidings within dirty yards!", she scolded as she was coupled up, "Bleugh!" The guard gave the signal and Sovereign whistled out of the yard. After beginning her journey with only a few trucks, as it went on, she picked up more and more trucks at each station, 'til she had a goods train as long as a rattlesnake. During this time though, the trucks were behaving well at first, but because Sovereign had been bumping them so angrily, they were now more than determined to get their much wanted payback on her. Presently, at this point in the journey, Sovereign was now attempting to successfully climb up the Lickey Incline. Now, should heavy goods trains like this come up against something like hills, slopes or inclines they would normally have to stop either on them or at the bottom in order for the engine to have their brakes pinned down. Sovereign had had problems with trucks in the past and should've remembered this, but her mind was in deep and furious thought as she slowly reached the top.

"Wait Sovereign wait.", said her driver, but Sovereign wasn't listening so she didn't wait. She was too busy thinking what she would say to Galatea when she next met the Jubilee. As they started to chuff carefully down the other side of the incline, the trucks decided to seize on the opportunity presented to them.

"Hurrah, hurrah!", they laughed as they bashed their buffers against each others and began to push Sovereign hard down the incline. The train was now rocketing down the incline and was now seemingly unstoppable.

"Argh!", cried Sovereign as the train continued to gain momentum.

"On, on, on!", yelled the laughing trucks.

"I've got to stop, I've got to stop!", groaned Sovereign as the train sped along the line dangerously. The driver applied the brakes but they were useless against the surging trucks. Sovereign tried forcing all her weight onto the trucks, but that failed miserably also. There was nothing Sovereign or her driver and fireman could do. Well all they could do was braced themselves as they were now in for what was gonna be one hell of a ride. The trucks continued to laugh loudly as they pushed the black 5 along the track. They raced through the countryside, scaring animals as they went. She then thundered under a bridge, and when Sovereign looked to her left, she saw Bescot station. She braced herself for thinking that she was going to head straight through the seemingly empty station. However, the points were not set for her to go through the station, so instead of zipping through the station, she shot across the complex of approach tracks and into the yard, where a train of 20 tanker wagons containing tar was waiting patiently from within. Sovereign blew her whistle alarmingly and closed her eyes in order to await for the inevitable and guessing hurtful impact. She smashed into the train hard enough for her to be literally lifted off the rails and come down with a crash, sending the primary truck she hit flying. Tar was sent airborne and when it came down, it splashed and splattered absolutely everywhere. Coal dust from Sovereigns train was floating all over the yard. It settled all over Sovereign along with the majority of the tar. When the dust finally cleared, Sovereign looked an absolute mess. She was covered in a combination of tar and coal dust from funnel to tender. She was more dirty than hurt. However, the first few tar wagons were either obliterated into thousands of pieces, or they were heavily dented. Other wagons were either derailed or seemingly unharmed. Poor Sovereign was left red faced…again. There was nothing she could do but wait for help to arrive. Her driver alerted the yard manager who quickly called the Fat Director. He decided to send Tornado and Galatea to help clear up the mess. The two sent engines arrived on the scene as soon as they possibly could. When they arrived with the some workmen and the breakdown cranes, they surveyed the wreckage of the scene. Tar was dripping down Sovereigns nose and it was slowly travelling down the black 5s boiler. She did look a very sorry sight. Galatea couldn't resist herself from taking the opportunity to have a little bit of fun.

"Look here Tornado.", she exclaimed, "What ever is that dirty object?"

"That's Sovereign, didn't you know?", asked Tornado.

"Well it looks like Sovereigns shape.", said Galatea, "But didn't Sovereign say that she was a splendid engine who said that you'd never see her paint dirty?" Tornado laughed at the remark made by Galatea. Sovereign looked over at them miserably, pretending she hadn't heard what they just said.

"Oh well Sovereign.", smiled Galatea, "Let's get you back onto the rails." Galatea and Tornado set to work clearing away the unhurt trucks. When they were removed from the scene, the duo watched as the cranes began to lift Sovereign back onto the rails. The workmen had finished attaching the hooks and chains around the black 5 and they all stood back and observed. The chains took the strain as they lifted Sovereign off the ground. When the black 5 was at a suitable height, the cranes began to manoeuvre her along so she was in line with the rails. When in position, she was slowly lowered back onto the rails. As the hooks and chains were removed, Galatea and Tornado coupled up to her, Galatea at the front, Tornado at the back. With a blow of their whistles, they set off, leaving the workmen and the breakdown cranes behind so they'd be able to clear up what was left of the wreckage.

As they trundled down the tracks, they made pleasant small talk.

"I'm sorry for calling you a dirty object Galatea.", said Sovereign sadly.

"That's alright Sovereign.", replied Galatea happily, "At least you now know to be careful with trucks as well as coaches."

"And here I was thinking black 5s were originally built for goods trains.", Tornado remarked cheekily. The trio had to laugh, even though Sovereign was blushing with embarrassment as the tar and coal dust still littered her paintwork. They soon arrived at Crewe Works where Sovereign was gonna get fixed Galatea and Tornado dropped Sovereign off in a siding and they were all now side by side. Just as Galatea and Tornado were about to leave, the Fat Director arrived.

"Well done Galatea and Tornado.", he said proudly. He then turned his attention to Sovereign.

"Uh oh.", whispered Sovereign fretfully.

"Fancy letting your trucks run away, I'm very surprised.", said the Fat Director, "You're not fit to be seen, you must be cleaned at once. Galatea shall have a new coat of paint." Galatea was delighted, but she then had a thought.

"Please sir, can Tornado have one to?", asked Galatea, "She was just as helpful in the rescue as I was."

"Oh why not.", agreed the Fat Director.

"Oh thank you so much sir!", cheered Tornado delightfully, "Thanks to you to Galatea."

"You deserve it just as much as I do Tornado, now lets go and get our new coats." smiled Galatea. All poor Sovereign could do was watch miserably as her two friends puffed merrily away for their repainting. Galatea was happy that she and Sovereign were now friends and she was looking forward to get her new coat of maroon paint.

**And that's episode 8 done! Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'Dirty Objects'**_**. Please review and I request criticism. All ideas for episode 9 will be welcome. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for reading, goodnight!**


	9. Cows

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - a brother and sister find something funny, an 8F looks angry and a live piece of meat is loose on the track.**

Episode 9: Cows

Tangmere was getting old. Her bearings were worn and she clanked as she puffed along. On this day, she was taking twelve empty cattle trucks to a market in town. Now, Tangmere would normally refuse to do this sort of job, considering herself to be to ladylike to be doing this sort of thing, but because the job was forced onto her by the Fat Director, she had no choice but to do it, much to her displeasure. However, Tangmere was heading for trouble. As she was crossing Bushey Arches viaduct near Watford, she felt the trucks starting to hold back against her.

"Come on, come on!", she puffed angrily to them.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh!", screamed the trucks. Tangmere puffed and clanked, while the trucks rattled and screamed behind her. Later in the journey, Tangmere passed some nearby cows who were all grazing on the green grass. These particular cows weren't used to trains passing them because all the noise and smoke were proving to be highly disturbing to them. And I suppose you could say that today, they'd now had enough. As Tangmere clanked by, the cows managed to break through the old wooden fence and ran across the line. There was suddenly a loud snap as a coupling was broken by the cows, and a quarter of Tangmeres train, which includes the guard in the brake van, was left behind with the angrily mooing cows. Tangmere felt a jerk but didn't really take much notice. She had failed to realise that a quarter of her train was missing, and she thought the trucks were just playing their old tricks again.

"Bother those trucks.", she thought, "Why can't they come quietly?" It wasn't 'til she reached the next station where she and her footplate crew had realised what had actually happened. The driver gasped as he looked back.

"A quarter of our trains gone missing!", he announced.

"That must've been what that jerk was.", thought the fireman, "When we passed the cows, a coupling must've broke."

"God damn those cows!", cried Tangmere, "I just know those pieces of meat have something to do with this!"

That evening, the news of Tangmeres little incident had managed to reach out to all across the west coast mainline. Tangmere was spending the night at Willesden shed as she would be needed along the west coast mainline tomorrow. Willesden shed would normally be occupied by class 09 shunting diesels alongside class 172 and class 378 units, but tonight Tangmere would be joining them as it was the shed she was closest to. However, to Tangmeres surprise, she wasn't the only steam engine that was staying at Willesden shed. As she reversed into the shed, she found that also there was BR Standard Class 7 no.70000 _'Britannia'_, her brother no.70013 _'Oliver Cromwell'_ and LMS Stanier Class 8F no.48151 _'Gauge O Guild'_. Britannia and Oliver Cromwell found Tangmeres incident with the cows very funny indeed as they laughed and boasted.

"Fancy allowing cows to break Tangmeres train, eh Ollie?", laughed Britannia.

"Yeah Brit, we wouldn't dare let them do that to us, we'd show them.", replied Oliver Cromwell confidently. Gauge O Guild wasn't liking what he was hearing one single bit.

"Hey back off will you?!", he ordered.

"Yeah leave me alone!", Tangmere added angrily. Britannia and Oliver Cromwell huffed and turned away indignantly.

"Don't worry Tangmere, you couldn't help it.", said Gauge O Guild comfortingly, "They've never met cows. I've never came to blows with cows myself before but I know just how much trouble they can cause for us engines. I just hope we don't have to deal with them during our work tomorrow." Tangmere sighed sadly in response before dozing off to sleep. As the four engine slept that night, Tangmere was having a bad dream about, guess what, cows. She dreamt she was just travelling along the tracks light engine passing some countryside. Then suddenly, some cows broke through some old wooden fence. They then walked onto the track. Tangmere gasped and applied her brakes. However, her brakes had failed. She had to close her eyes get brace herself for being about to kill an innocent animal. But just as she was about to hit them…

"Argh!", screamed Tangmere as she shot her eyes open and took deep breaths. She looked around and found herself back in Willesden shed. She also saw that her scream thankfully didn't wake up the other engines, however she was feeling sorrowful as she closed her eyes once more to return to the land of dreams hoping she didn't have a dream about cows again.

Next morning, Tangmere was still in Willesden but she had come out of the shed in order to take on more coal which was being brought in by a JCB. Tangmere looked up at the sky. She noticed the clouds hovering around the sun. It was officially forecast as a cloudy day today.

"At least it isn't raining.", Tangmere sighed trying to remain calm and collected. The memories of yesterday just wouldn't leave her mind, however she was no longer feeling sad, the whole ordeal had today put her in a bad mood. Just then, she heard a whistle. She looked over to the mainline and noticed Oliver Cromwell approaching with a passenger train. He whistled as he got closer.

"Peep-peep, mind the cows!", Oliver Cromwell called out to Tangmere teasingly, "Hurry, hurry, hurry!", he said to his coaches as he past Tangmere.

"Don't make such a fuss, don't make such a fuss!", grumbled the coaches in response. Oliver Cromwell just ignored them and carried on his journey along the rails. A long stretch of line lay ahead. In the distance was Bushey Arches viaduct. It seemed to Oliver Cromwell that there was something on the viaduct. His driver thought so to.

"Whoa Ollie.", he said as he shut off steam to slow his engine and the train down. Oliver Cromwell continued to look ahead as he got closer to the viaduct. He really wanted to know what that thing was. Eventually, he realised what it was.

"Phwoa!", he exclaimed, "It's only a cow. Shoo! Shoo!" He puffed slowly onto the viaduct, but the cow wouldn't shoo. She had lost her calf and felt lonely. As Oliver Cromwell came to a stop just in front of the cow, he wondered how did this cow manage to make her way onto the viaduct of all places.

"Moo.", the cow said sadly. Oliver Cromwells driver and fireman tried to send the cow away, but she wouldn't go. Just then, Oliver Cromwells sister Britannia arrived on her own passenger service.

"Oh please dear sister, please can you give me a helping buffer?", Oliver Cromwell asked.

"What's this?", asked Britannia, "A cow? I'll soon settle her. Be off! Be off!", she ordered the cow.

"Moo.", said the cow in response. Britannia began to back away nervously; this action taking Oliver Cromwell by surprise.

"I don't want to hurt her.", Britannia explained as she continued to apprehensively reverse backwards and towards the previous station she stopped at. When she arrived and stopped on the platform, her driver told the station master about the cow and warned the signalman that the line was blocked.

"That must be Eileen.", said the station master to Britannias driver, "Her calf is here, ready to go to market. Gauge O Guild will take it along." Just as he said this, they heard a loud booming whistle. They turned, looked down the line and saw Gauge O Guild approaching them on Oliver Cromwells line. Behind the 8F was one cattle truck containing Eileens calf and a brake van with the guard inside. Britannia watched as Gauge O Guild passed her en route to the viaduct where Oliver Cromwell will be waiting, presumably impatiently. Meanwhile at the viaduct, Oliver Cromwell was indeed waiting impatiently as Eileen was still blocking his way. Just then, he spotted Gauge O Guild approaching on the same track as him. Thankfully, the 8F stopped just before striking the cow. The guard then left the brake van and unlocked the door to the cattle truck. The calf then walked out. The guard then walked the calf over to Eileen who was delighted to see her calf again. The guard finally began to lead them over to the cattle truck in order for Gauge O Guild to take them away. Speaking of the 8F, he and Oliver Cromwell were watching what was happening, when something stoked itself into Gauge O Guilds firebox.

"Come on Eileen, oh, I swear what he means…"

"Oh shut up!", huffed Oliver Cromwell. He obviously didn't like this song.

"Ah man.", groaned Gauge O Guild, "I really like that song." Oliver Cromwell just wheeshed steam at him in order to permanently shut him up. Back with the guard and he'd now been able to escort the cows into the cattle truck. Upon shutting the trucks door, he blew his whistle and hopped back into the brake van. Gauge O Guild whistled goodbye to Oliver Cromwell and reversed away. He couldn't go forwards as he was on Oliver Cromwells line, obviously. As he chuffed past the station, Britannia was given the all clear to go. As Britannia approached the viaduct, she saw her brother still parked where he was, trying to gather what had just happened, feeling rather embarrassed about it. Just thinking about it left Britannia red faced too.

"Not a word, keep it dark.", the two siblings whispered to each other, they felt rather silly. However, that wasn't the end of the story.

That night as Oliver Cromwell arrived at Willesden shed after finishing his work, Britannia, Gauge O Guild and Tangmere were already there. Gauge O Guild had told Tangmere about the events at the viaduct and Tangmere found it very amusing. She waited for the primary suspect Oliver Cromwell to arrive at the shed before leaping at the opportunity to tease him and his sister.

"Well, well, well.", she chuckled, "Two big engines afraid of a cow?" Britannias face went red with pure embarrassment, making Gauge O Guild chuckle too.

"Afraid? Rubbish!", Oliver Cromwell retaliated as he reversed into the shed, "We didn't want the poor thing to hurt herself by running up against us. We stopped so it was not to excite her. You see what I mean, my dear Tangmere?"

"Yes Ollie.", smiled Tangmere. Oliver Cromwell felt somehow that Tangmere saw the whole situation only too well.

**And that's episode 9 done! Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'Cows'**_**. Please review and I request criticism. All ideas for episode 10 will be welcome. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for reading, goodnight!**


	10. The Old Iron Sibling

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - the narrator begs a question, a driver falls ill and a black 5 chases after its sibling.**

Episode 10: The Old Iron Sibling

It was a lovely sunny morning in Great Britain, the sun was shining and…yeah blah, blah, blah everything else you get on a bright and sunny morning; seriously why's everything so repetitive nowadays? Anyway, over at Kings Cross station, Sovereign was waiting impatiently with her passenger train. She couldn't go any further on her journey until her sister no.45231 _'The Sherwood Forester'_ had arrived with her own passenger service. Sovereign had been waiting for what seemed like hours now, though it was just actually half an hour. After the thirty minutes had passed, Sherwood Forester finally came into view. She calmly puffed passed Sovereign, who was glaring furiously at her, and came to a stop at the end of the platform. Sovereign wasn't happy.

"Late again sister!", she huffed angrily. Sherwood Forester just laughed in response, leaving Sovereign seething as she puffed furiously away.

That evening as the sun was setting behind the clouds, Sovereign had finished her work for the day and she had returned to Kings Cross because she was sleeping in the loco shed for the night. As she was reversing towards the shed, she was still feeling very bad tempered.

"Sherwood Forester is impossible!", she grumbled dreadfully, "She clanks about like a lot of old iron, and she's so slow she even makes her own sister wait!" Nunney Castle and her sister no.5972 _'Olton Hall' (Hogwarts Castle)_ were also staying at the shed and they'd heard what Sovereign had said. As they watched the black 5 reverse and park between them, they were feeling very indignant about the whole ordeal.

"Old iron?!", exclaimed Nunney Castle, "Slow?! I'm sure your brothers Lancashire Fusilier and Alderman A. E. Draper will want a word with you about that. I mean, I'd never say anything like that about any of my siblings, wouldn't I Olton?"

"No you wouldn't Nunney.", answered Olton Hall, "Besides Sovereign, I'm sure Sherwood Forester would have no problems beating her, seemingly not so dear sister in a race any day."

"Oh really?!", retorted Sovereign, "I shall like to see her do it!" And with that, she reversed into the shed to sleep for the night, leaving Nunney Castle and Olton Hall to stare indignantly at her.

Next morning, Sovereign was still at Kings Cross shed, but there was some bad news fast approaching. Her driver was suddenly taken ill, the poor guy could hardly stand, so he was sent for home for the day. With only Mr Edward 'Marie' Winstion, aka her fireman, the only footplate crew member on duty, Sovereign had been relegated by the Fat Director to do shunting work for the day. Poor Sovereign was furious, shunting was way beneath her dignity. The fireman left Sovereign in order to get ready for the days work. From Kings Cross station, the station master was busily working in his office. He looked out of the window to admire the sunny day when he suddenly noticed something shouted. He'd spotted Sovereign puffing away down the line and there wasn't anybody in her cab. He quickly made a call to the nearest signal box, and the signalman hastily made a decision when he received the urgent message.

"All traffic halted.", he announced as he pulled the required levers from within his signal box in order to halt the traffic further down the line. He was then joined by Edward 'Marie' Winstion and he told him what had happened.

"Alright so here's how it went down.", said the signalman, "Apparently two boys were on Sovereigns footplate fiddling with the controls."

"Phew!"

"They tumbled off and legged it when Sovereign began to move." Just then the telephone rang. He answered it.

"Hello? Yes…yeah he's here…right…ok I'll tell him…goodbye." He hung up the telephone and turned to Sovereigns fireman.

"Alright Marie…"

"Don't call me that!"

"Well that IS your middle name. Anyway Mr Lewis Jackson's coming at once."

"Who?"

"The inspector, you idiot!"

"Oh right."

"He's coming to help you rescue Sovereign. However, he apparently requires a shunters pole and a coil of wire rope."

"What for?"

"Search me? But I suggest that you'd better going and collect those items as fast as you can." So that's what Edward 'Marie' Winstion did, he raced into the nearest town, and purchased the requested items. He then returned to the signal box where he had to wait for the inspector to arrive. Before leaving, the signalman had told him that the inspector would be arriving onboard Sovereigns sister Sherwood Forester. Eventually, after one whole hour of waiting, He was relieved to finally witness Sherwood Forester coming into view. She parked next to the signal box. Lewis Jackson the inspector saw Edward 'Marie' Winstion holding the pole and the rope and smiled.

"Good man, jump in.", he said. As soon as Marie had hoped into the cab, Sherwood Forester blew her deep toned whistle and set off after Sovereign.

"We must catch my sister, we must.", she puffed, "If we don't though, then I'll be sure to visit her on the day the scrap yard cuts her up."

Meanwhile, Sovereign was laughing. She was racing along the line through some countryside with the rails humming loudly beneath her wheels. She was really enjoying her long run and was having the time of her life.

"What a lark, what a lark!", she chuckled to herself. As she rounded a bend, she suddenly found herself going faster and faster. This wasn't part of the script.

"Um, I think we should slow down driver…Um, you know, slow down so I'd decrease my chances of coming off the rails…and have a major accident…and quite possibly never be seen again…Well, aren't you gonna close my regulator or something?! Hello?!" Then, it was at this very moment, that she realised what had actually happened. "Wait a minute, if my speed's constantly increasing…and no one inside my cab's gonna have an attempt at slowing me down by not even responding to me…then that means…uh oh, HELP!", she screamed as she sailed down the line horrified.

"We're coming, we're coming dear sister!", called Sherwood Forester as she was racing after Sovereign. She sped along the track with her steam flaring and her wheels whirring. She soon found herself at the very same countryside Sovereign had passed. She then rounded the very same bend. She was panting up the line with every ounce of steam she had. Eventually, she could see Sovereign in the distance.

"I'm coming to rescue you Sovereign!", Sherwood Forester called out.

"Please hurry!", Sovereign replied terrifyingly. After much huffing and puffing, Sherwood Forester was in position alongside Sovereign.

"Steady Sherwood Forester!", called her driver. As Sherwood Forester rocked along the line, her driver, Marie and inspector Lewis Jackson were inside the cab getting ready to put their plan into action.

"Right, you know what you've got to do don't you?!", asked the driver.

"I'm on it!", replied the inspector as he made his way to the side of the cab. When the driver eventually managed to keep Sherwood Forester steady, the inspector stepped out of the cab and onto the side of Sherwood Forester. He slowly and carefully made his way along the black 5s side until he finally reached her front. He was holding a noose of rope tied through the crook of the shunters pole. He was going to attempt to slip it over Sovereigns front buffer. His first attempt ended in failure, as did the second. The swaying and lurching of the engines was probably the biggest stumbling block in this part of the operation. However, he remained cool, calm and collected and kept on trying. Eventually, after much effort, he finally managed to lasso the buffer.

"At last, got him!", he shouted pulling the lasso as tightly as he possibly could so he could tie the other end around Sherwood Foresters buffer. Sherwood Foresters driver gently applied her brakes and checked the engines speed. Meanwhile, Marie managed to scramble across from one black 5 to another and took control of Sovereign, applying her brakes making both black 5s slow down to a steady pace. The whole situation was finally over. Both black 5s breathed a collective sigh of relief, they were very thankful the other was ok. Sherwood Forester smiled weakly to her sister.

"So dear sister, the sibling you so called 'old iron' has managed to catch you after all.", she chuckled.

"I'm sorry sister.", whispered Sovereign exhaustingly, "Thank you so much for saving me, you were splendid Sherwood Forester."

"That's quite alright Sovereign.", replied Sherwood Forester.

The two sisters arrived at the next station side-by-side where the Fat Director was waiting for them.

"A fine piece of work.", he said, "Sovereign, you can rest and then take your next train. As for you Sherwood Forester, I'm very proud of you. You shall go to the works and have all of your worn parts mended."

"Oh thank you sir.", smiled Sherwood Forester, "It would be lovely not to clank." Sovereign now knew that her dear sister was no massive black lump of old iron, Sherwood Forester was just like every other engine across the nation, really useful.

**And that's it for my 10****th**** episode. Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'Old Iron'**_**. Please review and I request criticism. A huge thanks goes to **_**'tate310'**_** for giving me the idea and for letting me use his characters **_**'Edward 'Marie' Winstion'**_** and **_**'Mr Lewis Jackson'**_**. All ideas for episode 11 will be welcome. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for reading, goodnight!**


	11. The Mad Rush

_**Tornado and Friends Mainline Adventures**_

**Tonight - we discover a fireman can't sing, a small bus does a big runner and a black 5 travels through a blackened tunnel.**

Episode 11: The Mad Rush

It was a rather cloudy morning in Great Britain, the sun was playing a game of hide and seek, using the clouds for its hiding place. Over at Dent station, Sherwood Forester was working the Settle-Carlisle route today, and at this very moment, she was waiting at the platform with her days passenger service. She couldn't continue her journey until Tornado had arrived so passengers from the A1s train can change into the black 5s train. However half an hour had now past, and Tornado was still nowhere to be seen. Sherwood Forester was left wondering what was keeping the young engine.

"POOP-POOP! We're late! Where on earth's Tornado? She's normally not the sort of engine to keep her friends waiting!", she wondered angrily before sighing, "Stay calm 45231, stay calm, don't turn into your dear sister Sovereign, just remain calm and collected and wait patiently." Inside her cab, her driver, Jake 'Edwin' Cohens, and her fireman, James 'Samuel' Darvins, were discussing about the situation…well, when I say discussing…

"Oh dear, what can the matter be…", sang Samuel, "Johnny's so long at…"

"You really can't sing mate, you know that? Besides, never you mind about this 'Johnny'.", laughed Edwin, "Now I suggest you climb up onto the top of the cab and look for Tornado." So that's what Samuel did, he scrambled his way out of the cab and up to the top of the cab. He certainly had a beautiful countryside view to look at, but this wasn't the time for gazing about, he had an engine to look out for.

"Can you see her?", asked Edwin.

"I'm afraid not.", replied Samuel, "Hey look, I can see Roberto the single-decker bus travelling across the road in a daring hurry. No real need to bother with him though, likely he's on a coach tour or something." And with that, he clambered back down off the top of the cab and back inside it. Still not sure of Tornados whereabouts, Sherwood Forester chuffed away upon hearing the guards whistle. So if Tornado was running late, then her passengers were gonna have to wait or find another way to travel to where they need to go to.

As Sherwood Forester travelled along the line, she passed over a level crossing. Just as she crossed it though there was a horn blasting sound from the road, which Sherwood Forester wasn't able to hear.

"Stop, stop, I've got Tornados passengers!", wailed Roberto as he roared up to the gates. It was no good though as Sherwood Forester was gone.

"Bother!", groaned Roberto as he faintly heard the black 5s whistle in the distance, "Bother Tornados fireman not coming to work today, why did I promise to help the passengers catch the train?!"

"That'll do Roberto.", said his driver, "A promise is a promise and we must keep it." And with a blow of the horn, Roberto set off after Sherwood Forester, the chase was on. Roberto revved through villages and countryside in hot pursuit of the black 5, determined to keep his promise of getting Tornados passengers onto the train.

"I'll catch Sherwood Forester or bust!", he huffed determined as he continued his pursuit. He suddenly found himself climbing a steep hill.

"Oh my gears and axles!", he groaned as he pressed on up the hill, "I'll never be the same bus again! Hooray, hooray I see her!", he cheered as he reached the top, "Oh no, Sherwood Foresters arrived at the next station…no, she's stopped at a signal, hooray, hooray!" Roberto tore down the hill, this was his best opportunity at catching the black 5.

"Well done Roberto!", shouted his passengers, "Do it!" Suddenly, the signal changed to green, Sherwood Forester blew her booming low-tone whistle and began to puff away. Roberto skidded alongside.

"Wait, wait!", he cried, but all he was in time for was to see Sherwood Forester puff away.

"I'm sorry.", said Roberto sadly as the passengers got off of him.

"Never mind.", they said, "After her quickly, third time lucky you know." They then turned to Robertos driver.

"Do you think we'll catch her at the next station driver?", the passengers asked.

"There's a good chance.", said Robertos driver, "Our roads keep rather close to the line and we can go faster as Sherwood Forester has to obey her own speed limits, however we'll have to go across the countryside in order to actually get to the station. I'll just make sure." He made his way to the signal box to begin talks with the signalman. Roberto and the passengers were waiting as patiently as they could, but to no avail, they were really beginning to get very impatient. Fifteen minutes had passed before Robertos driver finally emerged from the signal box. He approached everyone with some exciting news.

"Yes, we'll do it this time.", he announced.

"Hooray!", called the passengers as they quickly got back on board Roberto. The driver also boarded and got back in his seat behind the wheel as Roberto set off, chasing after Sherwood Forester once more.

Roberto raced through more villages and countryside as fast as he would be allowed, he had to catch Sherwood Forester before the black 5 left the next station, Ribblehead. Speaking of the black 5, she was approaching Blea Moor Tunnel en route to Ribblehead. She blew her whistle long and loud as she entered the darkness. From inside the tunnel, she almost immediately discovered a problem, which the coaches were very keen to point out.

"This tunnel's too dark, this tunnel's too dark!", grumbled the coaches as Sherwood Forester snorted in front. The tunnel was so black from within, you never be able to notice Sherwood Forester inside. They came out the other side at last, into the open air, meaning that they can now carry on their journey, running smoothly towards Ribblehead station, still unaware about Roberto chasing after them. Eventually, after much puffing and chuffing, Ribblehead station finally came into view. As peacefully as she could, Sherwood Forester entered to station and came to a velvety stop right along the platform.

"POOP-POOP!", she whistled to the waiting passengers on the platform, "Get in quickly please!" As the passengers boarded the train, another sound could be heard. It came from the guard. He had blown his whistle. Sherwood Foresters driver looked back, but he refused to start the train again because he didn't see a red flag waving. Suddenly, they heard a third sound. This one sounded like a horn you'd often hear from a bus. It was Roberto, scampering across the grass along the countryside in order to reach the station. Sherwood Forester was surprised by this action, until the stationmaster told her driver and the guard about what had happened. Sherwood Forester looked over at an exhausted Roberto.

"I'm sorry about the chase Roberto.", smiled Sherwood Forester, "Though I'm pretty sure the environmentalists will want a word with you about driving through the countryside leaving tyre tracks in your wake."

"I seriously hope they'll forgive me if I told them it was an emergency.", breathed Roberto, "Besides, this whole ordeal was my fault as I was late at the junction. You didn't know about Tornados passengers." They watched as Tornados passengers got off of Roberto and made their way onto the station platform and into Sherwood Foresters waiting coaches. After a few minutes of waiting, all the passengers were onboard Sherwood Foresters train and the guard blew his whistle and waved his flag.

"POOP-POOP, goodbye Roberto, we're off.", whistled Sherwood Forester.

"Three cheers for Roberto!", called the passengers from inside the coaches as Sherwood Forester puffed away en route to the next and final stop at Settle. Roberto watched the train leave the station and chuff merrily away into the distance. He now had one final job to do before he'd be able to bring this whole ordeal to a close. He had to race back the way he came and tell Tornado that her passengers made it onto the train safely…eventually. He followed the tyre tracks he left behind to get off the grass. He still believed that he'd hopefully be let off for emergency reasons if he was asked about why he created those deep brown tyre tracks across the peaceful countryside. He was soon racing along the smooth tarmac road once more en route to Carlisle where he knew that Tornado would be waiting there to hear the welcoming news. Wait, if Tornados up at Carlisle, then how did Sherwood Forester not know, didn't anyone tell her? Anyway, Roberto raced along the roads as fast as he possibly could, being careful not to crash and making sure he obeyed law enforced speed limits. After many hours of driving, he eventually arrived safely at Carlisle. He found Tornado relaxing in a station siding. He saw that the A1 was fast asleep. As much as he didn't want to wake her, he knew he had to. So, he blew his horn as loudly as he could. Tornado jumped out of her boiler, almost off the rails. The surprise was so forceful that it took Tornado a few seconds to stop her spinning eyes. When they did stop, she looked over and saw Roberto trying his best not to burst out laughing,

"Oh, it's only you Roberto.", Tornado sighed with relief, "What did you do that for, I was having a nice long dream?"

"Sorry about that Tornado.", replied Roberto apologetically, "But I just thought I'd tell you that your passengers did eventually make it onto Sherwood Foresters train."

"Phew, thank goodness. Thank you so much Roberto.", smiled Tornado, "You're a very good friend indeed." Roberto smiled proudly, happy in the knowledge that he had been and always will be a big help towards the railways.

**And that's episode 11 done! Hope you enjoyed my parody of TTTE episode **_**'Bertie's Chase'**_**. Please review and I request criticism. All ideas for episode 12 will be welcome. And on that bombshell, it's time to end, thanks very much for reading, goodnight!**


End file.
